Fact File
Scientific Name: Pseudacris feriarum
Classification: Amphibian
Size: Up to 1.5 inches
Distribution: Primarily a Coastal Plain species with scattered records throughout the Piedmont and Mountain regions. They are rarely found in thick forested areas, preferring more open canopy habitats, including flooded power-lines, farm fields, roadside ditches, cutovers, vernal ponds, and sinkhole ponds.
Identifying Characteristics
The background color is brown or gray and the pattern can be variable, but typically with some parallel striping and spotting. Most have a dark triangle between the eyes with a light line on the upper jaw and a dark stripe through the eye extending along the side toward the groin. The belly is usually cream-colored but often with dark stippling on the breast.
Did You Know?
Sometimes calls when air temperatures are below freezing.
Role in the Web of Life
This species breeds from February-May in ephemeral wetlands in open grassy areas, cutovers, powerline corridors, roadside ditches, and open pine savannas. Their advertisement call is a regularly repeated creek or prreep, which is similar to the call of a Southern Chorus Frog, but individual pulses of the latter cannot be counted. A single female may deposit more than 500 eggs throughout a single breeding season.
Conservation
Species appears to be secure in Virginia.
Last updated: March 23, 2021